Comparative to other professions, they do very little work and results would seem to indicate that many do it badly. Some fail to teach basic numeracy and literacy and then complain they don’t get paid enough and demand a pay rise.
They work the shortest hours of any profession. and get approximately 13 weeks unofficial holiday a year and then complain about being overworked.

There are some good teachers out there, but some of them need to get a job in the real world to find out what hard work truly is.
I agree Nina, there are some great teachers out there who do not feel the need to slur students or parents in order to cover up their own incompetence.
Unfortunately, many of you did not read my question correctly. I never said that all teachers complain or did their jobs badly. There are some wonderful teachers, they educate, inspire and positively contribute to the development of their students. They don’t complain and enjoy their work. However they are vastly outnumbered by bad teachers who do not have the emotional or intellectual capabilities to do the job, and therefore complain and blame everyone else for their lack of success.

Some of the answers here have been great, but some of the answers have betrayed frightening ignorance. I hope those people really weren’t teachers.
To the homeschoolers who have defended teachers so vehemently, please have a thought about the parents and students who have come to home schooling because of the appalling actions of some teachers.

Image taken on 2008-06-08 19:50:46. Image Source. (Used with permission)

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